Samsung wins round in legal battle with Apple

By Howard Mintz hmintz@mercurynews.com

Posted:
10/11/2012 09:28:24 AM PDT

Updated:
10/11/2012 02:49:23 PM PDT

SAN JOSE -- Clobbered with a $1 billion jury verdict in August, Samsung got some relief in its legal feud with Apple (AAPL) on Thursday when a federal appeals court overturned an order that blocked the South Korean tech giant from selling the Galaxy Nexus smartphone in the United States.

The U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, a Washington, D.C.-based court that hears patent appeals, found that U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh had no legal basis to issue a preliminary injunction earlier this year against the Nexus smartphone. The decision allows Samsung to continue to sell the product while the patent battle with Apple continues.

The ruling came in the second of two lawsuits Apple has filed in San Jose federal court as part of its global patent showdown with Samsung. In a suit filed earlier this year, Apple sought to block sales of a series of Samsung devices, including the Galaxy Nexus, which is an older line of Samsung smartphone and has since been overshadowed by the release of the Galaxy S III.

The patent claims raised against the Galaxy Nexus, which allege Samsung infringed features on Apple's iPhone 4S, including the Siri voice option, are separate from the case decided by a federal jury in August. The jury sided with Apple in its first lawsuit against Samsung, finding that dozens of even older smartphones and tablets were copies of the iPhone and iPad.

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Apple has moved for a permanent injunction against all those devices, a request that Koh will consider at a hearing in December.

The appeals court ruling only applies to Koh's decision in June to issue a preliminary injunction before a trial, but gives Samsung the right to continue to sell the Galaxy Nexus and provides much-needed legal ammunition in a battle with Apple that is likely to continue to make its way to the Federal Circuit.

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on Thursday's ruling.

Samsung appears to be faring better in the Federal Circuit than with Koh or in the jury trial. Koh earlier this month also dissolved another injunction against Samsung's Galaxy 10.1 tablet after the Federal Circuit indicated that order also had legal weaknesses.

Samsung has moved to set aside the $1 billion judgment, arguing that there was insufficient proof it trampled on Apple's patent rights on the iPhone and iPad. Among other arguments, Samsung says the jury foreman tainted the verdict by failing to disclose during jury selection his involvement in past litigation with Seagate and introduced his own experiences with patents.

Apple, meanwhile, is asking for permanent bans on the sales of Samsung products, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in additional damages for the jury's findings of "willful infringement."

Apple shares closed down $12.81 Thursday, to $628.10 a share.

Howard Mintz covers legal affairs. Contact him at 408-286-0236 or follow him at Twitter.com/hmintz.